Existentialistic question

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Royston

... My Lady has no objections to my collecting sharp pointy things as long as they are only displayed in one room of the house.... Strange, as she has a display cabinet full of antique perfume bottles in the lounge ... ( She likes them if they are "shiney" ) ...

I manage to have in the living room, both displayed and kept in the cabinets, the large(est) part of my items.
But wives are weird ... sure thing; mine doesn't seem to give particular notice to the new acquisitions, as they arrive, but everytime i send away some of my 'unfavoured' ones, to both balance space and budget, she looks to me packing it and says: that one? one of the most interesting you have around? .

[A. G. Maisey]

Possibly there is no definitive answer to these questions, for any of us. There certainly is not for myself.

I started to collect a very long time ago, and initially I collected everything sharp & pointy. Then I developed an interest in Jawa and S.E. Asia in general, and my collecting more or less concentrated on this area of the world. I still acquired other things from time to time.

Eventually my interest turned completely to keris and the items that Javanese people call "tosan aji".

Then my focus narrowed even further and my principal interest became the keris of Jawa and Bali, and especially archaic forms thereof.

As my focus has become more concentrated the items that are not central to my specific interests have been sold.

So, what has happened is that my collecting has actually controlled itself, in accordance with my varying focus at different points in time.

I very seldom buy anything these days, for the simple reason that I very seldom see anything that is specific to my interests that is both worth buying, and affordable.

It is a very regrettable fact of life that the only way I can improve upon what I already have is to spend very much more money than I have available.

As to what will happen to it all when I am finally promoted.

For some time I have been trimming from around the furthest edges of my collection, and this will continue.

Certain items that I have, such as the work of Empu Suparman and Empu Pauzan , as well as my own work, will be bequeathed to a suitable public facility. The same will apply to a couple of pieces with royal provenance.

I'd like to pass my handle collection in the same direction, but I doubt that I will find any institution that will accept it.

Anything that remains when I move on will be my childrens' problem, not mine.

Except for one Surakarta keris that was given to me many years ago, and is a family pusaka keris; that will be returned to the eldest son of the current generation of that family.

I have never had any sort of difficulty nor obstruction from anybody I have been married to or living with that has interfered in even the smallest degree with the way in which I chose to spend my money.

[tom hyle]

Originally Posted by fernando

I manage to have in the living room, both displayed and kept in the cabinets, the large(est) part of my items.
But wives are weird ... sure thing; mine doesn't seem to give particular notice to the new acquisitions, as they arrive, but everytime i send away some of my 'unfavoured' ones, to both balance space and budget, she looks to me packing it and says: that one? one of the most interesting you have around? .

Now I'm not saying I spy from the bushes, but you should see her dance with them when you're not around. Oh, and please trim your bushes.
Just kidding, but for some reason it is easier to swing swords around, or just to really examine cool old stuff when you're by yourself; maybe she does enjoy them when you're not around. Just so she doesn't leave rust-prints on the blades.....

[Dom]

Originally Posted by tom hyle

Just kidding, but for some reason it is easier to swing swords around.

or to swing with sword

[chregu]

hello together
That's no problem restricting it! it simply collects everything has a blade! smile.
No, I try to limit myself to 50cm. sometimes it works, sometimes not. smile